Every Day is a Gift Day for Mother

She Wore Emerald Then
Subtitle: Reflections on Mothers and Motherhood

By Magdalena Ball and Carolyn Howard-Johnson
Part of The Celebration Series
Published by The Compulsive Reader
Poetry Chapbook
Available on Amazon
Available as e-book: $2.99

Reviewed by Robert Medak

 

She Wore Emerald Then is a collection of poems by Magdalena Ball and Carolyn Howard-Johnson.  

The free verse (Written without rhyme or conventional patterns of poetry) poetry in She Wore Emerald Then is well written and entertaining for readers of any age, not just poetry readers that celebrates Mothers and Motherhood.

She Wore Emerald Then is a book that everyone should read and experience the writing and what the poems say to them. Poetry is about evoking emotion, not written to attempt understanding what was in the author’s mind at the time of penning.

She Wore Emerald Then is a recommended reading and awarded five out of five stars.

Purchase a copy of She Wore Emerald Then and enjoy a celebration Mothers and Motherhood from two gifted writers.

 

MORE ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Robert Medak
Freelance Writer/Editor/Blogger/Proofreader/Reviewer/Marketer
http://www.authorsden.com/robertmedak
http://rjmedak.wordpress.com
http://twitter.com/freelancewrtr

http://xeeme.com/RobertMedak

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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.

Historical Christian Fiction Is Much More Than Its Genres

Title              "...Like Footprints in the Wind: A Generation Lost"

Author:          Pamela Atherstone
Author Link:   http://atherstonep.wix.com/jahnlechronicles
Genre:           Historical Fiction/ Christian
ISBN:             9781432797737

Purchase on Amazon

Reviewed by F.T. Donereau for Rebecca’s Reads (8/13)   http://rebeccasreads.com/atherstonelikefootprintsinthewind

 

Pamela Atherstone's "...Like Footprints in the Wind: A Generation Lost," is certainly a Historical novel in every sense of the word. I do believe though, that it brings much more to the table than is normally associated with that particular genre. You have a sweeping tale of family and tribulations and love and faith. You have a place and time that evokes distance from modern life. All of this is the normal thing for such a work but somehow the author brings it to us in a way that makes us able to feel the world inhabited by the Jahnle family and those around them, as if it were actually us, or loved ones of our own. The story comes alive fully and enables us to live it along with the characters. This is rare in Historical undertakings. And welcome.

As the book opens Johannes Jahnle is a farmer about to harvest his crops. The yield looks promising and he is a contented man. The Russian world he lives in is his as much as anyone’s. He loves his wife and children and they are happy in their lives. Simply because they are of German descent though, they are in trouble. I had never heard of the Purge of the Kulaks prior to the reading of this fine novel. Based on real stories, the tale that unfolds is an astonishing, gut wrenching one. The family is torn from their land and all they know by Russian soldiers. They are forced to endure a harrowing journey that leads them to the isolating deprivation that is the labor camps on the coast of the White Sea, in Siberia. Getting there is a fraught existence. The world they arrive into ends up being an ice brick scratched out of some devil's frozen hell. Miss Atherstone carves these things to life in such a way as to make them as compellingly real as any moment that might have been truly experienced by the reader, employing the kind of writing that makes great fiction, great story telling.

The author does not rely on flowery prose to evoke her worlds. Clean hard lines are used to draw the pictures between the covers of "…Like Footprints In The Wind." This is as it should be. The story, at times, is brutal. The family faces trials that seem and probably were designed to tear them down to nothing. Sorrows within are immense. There is great cruelty, deprivation, and even death. If the words used were not cut out of stone, a false prettiness might have covered things, which would have only taken away from what is being laid down here.

Johannes Jahnle is a good man. He is wise and blessed with an inner strength his family would have been hard pressed to survive without. There is that kind of strength in his wife, Katerina, as well. It was lifting to find a woman protagonist who did not crumble and fade under enormous pressures. I confess though that I think my favorite of the characters may be the Jahnle's daughter, Anya. She is a spirit of high order and love becomes her. The family is bolstered by their faith. It is the thing, I think, that really brings them through. It is tested and finally clung to. That, as well, is refreshing.

Really I find this book an important work; it brings forth an historical happening, a tragic piece of history the world ought to know better. Miss Atherstone is a master story teller. The goodness that flows through the horror wrought is a dynamic any age needs more of. The Jahnle's are a people I would love to know. Their faith is a special thing. It all might have been less in the hands of someone not as capable as Pamela Atherstone. She should find great success with this saga. Trust me when I say, you will gain knowledge and feel things deeply simply by opening the pages and falling into them.

Added note:  This book is the Winner of the 2013 Best Fiction Award for Rebecca's Reads.  Permission to reprint reviews was granted by Rebecca's Reads as part of the contest.  This book is also currently a finalist in two categories in the Reader's Favorite Book Reviews and Awards Contest.

 

 

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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.

Poet Finds Fellow Poets New Book Personally Satisfying

Title: "Woman with Crows" (Saddle Road Press, 2013)

Author: Ruth Thompson

Author link: http://womanwithcrows.com/Woman_with_Crows/Welcome.html

Genre: Poetry

ISBN 978-0-9833072-8-0

REVIEWED BY Jendi Reiter originally for  www.jendireiter.com

 

Of the numerous poetry books I’ve read this year, Ruth Thompson’s Woman with Crows (Saddle Road Press, 2013) is the most personally meaningful to me. I just turned 42, undeniably middle-aged, and my son starts preschool this fall. All around me, it seems, are warnings and laments that youth is fleeting, and we must cling to each moment lest it pass us by unnoticed. Woman with Crows is an antidote to fear.

This poetry collection, earthy yet mythical, celebrates the spiritual wisdom of the Crone, the woman with crows (and crows’ feet). Because of her conscious kinship with nature, the speaker of these poems embraces the changes that our artificial culture has taught us to dread. Fatness recurs as a revolutionary symbol of joy: a woman’s body is not her enemy, and scarcity is not the deepest truth. For her, the unraveling of memory and the shedding of possessions are not a story of decline but a fairy tale of transformation. One could say that, like Peter Pan, she expects that death will be a very big adventure!

If this all sounds terribly sentimental and “uplifting”, don’t worry. She’s not a sweet, neutered old granny. There are fireworks here, and snakes, and “ooze shining and blooming and with sex in it.”

Ruth has kindly allowed me to reprint the poems below. “Fat Time” was first published in New Millennium Writings as the winner of their 2007 poetry prize.

Visit her website for more great work.

Fat Time
Under purest ultramarine the raised
goblets of trees overrun with gold.
We should be reeling drunk and portly as groundhogs
through these windfalls of russet, citron, bronze, chartreuse.
Everywhere color pools like butter, like oil of ripe nuts,
like piles of oranges under a striped tent.
Oh, let us be greedy of eyeball,
pigs scuffling in this gorgeous swill!
Let us cud this day
and spend the winter ruminant.
Let us write fat poems, and be careless.
Let us go bumbling about in wonder, legs
coated with goldenrod and smelling of acorns.
Let us be unctuous with scarlet and marigold,
larder them here, behind our foreheads
to glow in the brain’s lamps
in the time of need.
Each tree a sun!
Let us throw away caution,
emblazon our retinas
with the flare and flame of it
so that in the unleavened winter
this vermilion spill, this skyfall,
these oils of tangerine, smears of ochre and maroon
will heat a spare poem, dazzle the eye’s window,
feed us like holy deer on the blank canvas of snow.

****

Travel Instructions for Elmwood Avenue
You leave the sepia light of the tea restaurant,
lapsang and peony, earth and green twig,
continuo of quiet human voices.
Outside is rain, fat frying, damp exhaust, sputum,
spit of tires on a wet street, brakes tuned
to the pulse of streetlights: green, amber, red, green.
You blunder, glasses fringed with rainbows,
until your own hands swim out before you—
greeny in the headlights, strange as ectoplasm.
Light laps from shattered planes of reflection,
emerges and re-emerges from sheeting brilliance.
Dimension becomes dimension, a turned fan.
Now darkness hums like a bowed string,
anchored somewhere you cannot see,
one end floating here in the spinning world
and what has always sung from around the corner
is no longer apart from you—
it is here, upon you—that blaze of tenderness!

MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ruth Thompson is a poet, a performer, and a teacher of writing, yoga, and meditation. She has written two books of poems, Woman With Crows (2013) and Here Along Cazenovia Creek (2011), which was performed by the famous dancer Shizuno Nasu.

 

MORE ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Jendi Reiter is the author of the poetry collections A Talent for Sadness (Turning Point Books, 2003), Swallow (Amsterdam Press, 2009), and Barbie at 50 (Cervena Barva Press, 2010). Awards include a 2010 Massachusetts Cultural Council Artists' Grant for Poetry, the 2013 Little Red Tree International Poetry Prize, the 2012 Betsy Colquitt Award for Poetry from Descant magazine, the 2011 James Knudsen Editor's Prize in Fiction from Bayou Magazine, the 2011 OSA Enizagam Award for Fiction, the 2010 Anderbo Poetry Prize, and second prize in the 2010 Iowa Review Awards for Fiction. She is the editor of WinningWriters.com, an online resource site for creative writers. Follow her on Twitter @JendiReiter.
Follow Jendi on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/jendireiter 

"Things are not what they appear to be: nor are they otherwise."
Surangama Sutra

 

 

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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.

Readers' Favorite Reviews New Sci-Fi Novel

Title: Strike Three

Author: Joy V. Smith 
Genre: Science fiction
ISBN:   9781936099658
Review was originally published on Barnes & Noble
Publisher:  WolfSinger Publications
Reviewer's rating: 5 Stars
Availability:  For the print edition of Strike Three, go to Createspace: https://www.createspace.com/4876544   

If you prefer eBooks, go to Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/452298 

Reviewed by Michael McManus originally for Readers' Favorite

In her novel, Strike Three, Joy V. Smith introduces us to the aftermath of World War III, a short battle that claimed the lives of the majority of the Earth’s population. The survivors of the war that turned the planet brown, those who went underground well prepared, and those who survived in spite of poor planning, returned to find the world outside their caves, fallout shelters, missile silos and communication bunkers completely barren. Nothing had survived a “hot virus” that had been unleashed onto the world by an unknown enemy. Some places were obliterated by nuclear bombs, but the most severe devastation took place in the plant and animal worlds. Even the insects perished. Sheridan and Lea Zane emerged into the new world ready to organize a recovery of the planet, or at least their corner of it. They had plants and wildlife enough for their own survival, but they reached out to other survivors as they returned to the surface and began to reestablish their homes and farms. Soon, the development of a trade route brought hope to the many settlements that formed; hope that the nation and, indeed, the planet could be saved.

This story grabbed me from the start and would not let go. I read it in three sittings. Along with the plot moving at lightning speed, the characters are real and interesting in the way they react to the situation they have inherited. For the science freak, there is enough detail about the devastation and recovery to keep you going. There is also adventure, a bit of action and even politics. I happily recommend this book to a general audience.

 

 

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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.

Red Hot Reads Reviews M.J.Schiller's Newest

Title: Rock Me, Gently

Author: M.J. Schiller
Website: www.mjschillerauthor.blogspot.com
Genre: Romantic suspense
ISBN: 978-1-939274-11-3
Buy link: Amazon: http://amzn.com/B00JXL6MZO
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/rock-me-gently-mj-schiller/1119365745?ean=2940149550845

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id869210019

Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/rock-me-gently-1

Reviewed by Monica Creason Estes for Red Hot Reads Book Blog

Review:

Josh Dunningham is a HOT Rocker. I loved this book. I am a huge M.J. Schiller fan. As with all her other books I love her men and Josh is just another fine example of a beautiful character she writes. I read this book in one setting.

Josh and Cassie meet in Vegas and have the beginnings of a steamy night. Cassie gets jumpy and leaves Josh before they can get to the good stuff. Josh cannot quit thinking about her and Cassie is just as taken with Josh. Cassie has past relationship issues and is reluctant to all of Josh’s advances. Josh has commitment issues because of his childhood. Finally they get a good thing going.

Josh is so sweet! When he wants something he knows how to swoon a girl. I loved the whole basketball game scene. Cassie is somewhat innocent but has a fiery personality. They compliment each other nicely.

I love M.J.’s writing she does not waste time with her characters they get straight into their relationship and we get to see more of the building of the relationship instead of a bunch of angst that drives me crazy sometimes. This book filled me with joy and had me laughing out loud several times. Josh and Cassie share funny banter amongst each other. I felt their love and felt as though I was right there with them. This is a sweet love story that is filled with just the right amount of steaminess in the love scenes.

Of course we must not forget that M.J. throws a mystery in her story as well and this mystery did not disappoint at all. I was sitting on the edge of my seat while everything unfolded.

All the books in this collection are stand-alones. I have read the entire Rocking Romance Collection and I have loved each book. Rock Me, Gently will not disappoint you for a sweet love story. M.j. Schiller is one of my favorite authors. This will definitely not be my last book by her.

MORE ABOU THE AUTHOR:
~ Author of Taken by Storm, Trapped Under Ice, Abandon All Hope, An Uncommon Love, Upon A Midnight Clear, Between Rock and a Hard Place, Rock Me, Gently and The Heart Teaches Best!  Learn more about her at www.mjschillerauthor.blogspot.com

  

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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.

Fantasy Without Blasphemy Reviewed

Title: Voices of the Sea

Author: Bethany Harar

Website: http://www.bethanymasoneharar.com/

Genre: Young Adult/Fantasy

ISBN: 1937178544

Purchase Link

Reviewed by Beth Tropp

Never a fan of a certain vampire book (I know, blasphemy!) I began reading Voices of the Sea with some misgivings. Would this just be another vampire book -- with swimming instead of biting?

Happily I was all wrong. Voices of the Sea was a fresh new book that has a little something for everyone: a little romance, a little fantasy, a little adventure. The characters ran true as teenagers. In turn they were lovesick, moody, reckless, defiant, scared and childish.

The first part of the book, where readers get a feel for life as a Siren, is fascinating but when the murders start things really speed up. You'll find you won't be able to stop reading as you try to figure out if there is a traitor among the Sirens or an outsider spying on them. There were also several surprise twists that will keep you from guessing exactly what's happening until the very end.

Yes, it is YA but it's a story I think fantasy readers of all ages will enjoy.

----- The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.

Wow Review of Wow Crime Novel!

Book title: A Model Murder (Alicia Allen Investigates 1)

Author: Celia Conrad
Website: www.alicialleninvestigates.com
Where to buy the book: Amazon USA http://tinyurl.com/pjtyn54
Genre: Crime fiction
ISBN 9780954623326 (Paperback) & available in all Ebook formats
Publisher: Barcham Books

 Reviewed by Marlan Warren originally for "Dancing in the Experience Lane" Open Salon Blog

 

In law firms, nobody can hear you scream...

 

 

He told me he was used to getting what he wanted...

--A Model Murder, Celia Conrad

 

What do law firms and men’s “hostess” clubs have in common? If your first thought is “alpha males,” you’re already on board with A Model Murder. Conrad draws disturbing, often painfully entertaining, parallels between these two worlds where Neanderthals still roam the Earth, and a resistant female might get a bop on the head or worse.

A Model Murder is a fast-paced suspense mystery, full of twists and turns, following in the tradition of Nicci French and Sue Grafton.

Alicia Allen is a London-based Anglo-Italian lawyer on the verge of her 30^th birthday whose experience of Death has been limited to sorting estate issues...until her beautiful Australian neighbor and wannabe model, Tammy, turns up raped and murdered before she can collect her first paycheck from the job she wants to quit in a sleazy men’s club.

British author Conrad has painted a loving portrait of the multi-cultural melting pot that is London and her down-to-earth heroine who has no superpowers of intuition and deduction, but is quite simply a good neighbor who will stop at nothing until a wrong is made right.

Lack of police progress propels Alicia towards finding Tammy’s murderer herself. The Shakespearean character of Portia (Merchant of Venice) is mentioned, and indeed Alicia does resemble that legendary defense attorney. Her “quality of mercy is not strained” as she single-mindedly focuses on solving this horrible murder. Using her honed skills of observation and detail-awareness, she finds clues even in opera. Breaking and entering to gather evidence? No problem.

When Alicia coincidentally finds herself in a life-threatening work situation from a mad-dog senior partner, the link between sociopaths who legally run law firms and take unfair advantage of women “underlings” and the sociopaths who run illegal prostitution rackets solidifies.

Of course the crazier and nastier the law firm environment, the more fun. Conrad also makes the fair point that women in both arenas can also harass their female coworkers. All the better to keep readers guessing whodunit!

Red herrings swim among Alicia’s true friends who are the mainstay of her life. Will that Robert Redford-type lawyer who wows the ladies at her office be The One or is he somehow responsible for Tammy’s untimely demise?

Will Alicia pick the true-blue “best friend” who shares her Italian heritage or the office lover-boy who makes her knees weak while he quotes Shakespeare? That Conrad keeps all these balls in the air until the story’s breathtaking and very scary conclusion is a testament to her marvelous instincts as a storyteller extraordinaire.

Women make this plot twirl on its axis; so there has to be food. I found myself wanting Pringles (Alicia's one addiction), pizza, salad nicoise, pasta primavera, and high tea with succulent scones throughout the adventure. Not necessarily in that order.

Full disclosure: I toiled in law firms for years as a secretary, and I had a friend who worked in a pole-dancing club in Los Angeles. So this harrowing, occasionally satirical, murder mystery hit a nerve and my funny bone at the same time.

PS to American Readers: Keep your English to English Dictionary handy! Alicia eats chips from a tube and then rides on one...but I just have to love a language and a country where women can be "well upholstered."

I am eagerly looking forward to reading the other two books in this Alicia Allen Investigates Trilogy: A Wilful Murder (Book 2) and Murder in Hand (Book 3).

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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.